When you have a messy house, and not much time to get it into order, use the Emergency Quick Clean...
Before You Start - Get the laundry going, and reboot it as needed. After you've completed the below nine Emergency Quick Clean steps, take some time to put away any laundry that is clean and waiting.
1. Go into your kitchen, and wash your dishes. If you have a dishwasher, then use it. It's one of your many "servants".
2. Go to every sink in your house, and spray them all down with a solution of half vinegar and half water, and give them a quick wipe down with a rag.
3. Depending on the amount of mess in your house, this step may take the longest. Go through every room in your house, and throw away trash, and put away things that have wandered away from their homes.
4. Grab a feather duster, and go from room to room, dusting top to bottom. Focus mostly on fan blades, shelves, and the tops of TVs and computers.
5. The hard part is over. Grab a rag and a spray cleaner (vinegar and water, for example), and wipe down your kitchen/dining room tables, kitchen counters, and bathroom counters. This is also a good time to clean your TV and computer screens, and bathroom mirrors.
6. Toilet time. Squirt/spray in vinegar, bleach, Soft Scrub, or toilet bowl cleaner, and clean those toilets. Don't forget to clean the flush handle, under and around the seats, on the toilet bases, etc.
7. Almost done. Grab your broom, and do a quick sweep of your kitchen and bathrooms. This is a quick sweep - this means that you just sweep the middles of the floors. Don't worry about moving chairs and such, just sweep around them.
8. Time to spot mop. Turn on the hot water in your kitchen sink, get your mop wet, and then look at the floor for messy spots, and mop over each messy spot. Remember, this is an Emergency Quick Clean, so we're not mopping the whole floor, just the visibly dirty spots. Now do this in your bathrooms as well.
9. Quick Vacuum time... Vacuum your living room and dining room. Focus on the middles. Don't worry about the edges, or under furniture. You can do a serious vacuuming later, when you get back into a regular cleaning routine.
All done. Take a step back, and look at what you accomplished in such a short time.
Build Your Foundation on the Rock of Salvation
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"It’s like a person building a house by digging deep and laying the foundation on bedrock. When the flood came, the rising water smashed against that house, but the water couldn’t shake the house because it was well built. 49 But those who don’t put into practice what they hear are like a person who built a house without a foundation. The floodwater smashed against it and it collapsed instantly. It was completely destroyed." -Luke 6:48-49 CEB
"The Lord lives! Bless God, my rock! Let my God, the rock of my salvation, be lifted high!" -2 Samuel 22:47 CEB
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." -John 8:32 CEB
"Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -John 14:6 CEB
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The terms "Christian" and "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" have been thrown around so much, that for many people, they have lost their original savor. What is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Is it going to church? Is it being a "good person?" Is it via doing certain rituals, or following certain traditions? No, it is so much simpler than that.
Jesus says:
"Look! I’m standing at the door and knocking. If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them, and will have dinner with them, and they will have dinner with me." -Revelation 3:20 CEB
Let Jesus into your heart and life. Put your faith and trust in Him, and in Him alone.
Why did Jesus Christ come to this earth? He came to pay for our sins. Have you ever broken any of the Ten Commandments? Did you know that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that just looking at someone with lust in your heart is the same thing as committing adultery in your heart?
Many people will say I'm a good person. Sure, I've stolen a few paper clips in my time, and I've told some lies, but I've never killed anyone, so I'm good enough for heaven. Don't be so sure. Have you ever felt hatred toward someone? If so, then you are guilty of committing murder in your heart:
"Everyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that murderers don’t have eternal life residing in them." -1 John 3:15 CEB
If you have stolen, lied, lusted after someone, hated someone, loved someone or something more than God, etc., then you have broken at least 5 of the Ten Commandments. Do you really think you'd make it to heaven? Not according to God's Word:
"Don’t you know that people who are unjust won’t inherit God’s kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Those who are sexually immoral, those who worship false gods, adulterers, both participants in same-sex intercourse, thieves, the greedy, drunks, abusive people, and swindlers won’t inherit God’s kingdom." -1 Corinthians 6:9-10 CEB
But there is good news:
"That is what some of you used to be! But you were washed clean, you were made holy to God, and you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." -1 Corinthians 6:11 CEB
We are all sinners:
"All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory" -Romans 3:23 CEB
Even Mary, the woman chosen by God to be a vessel that would carry Jesus in her womb, was a sinner, and in need of a Savior:
"In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior." - Mary said this in Luke 1:47 (CEB). Only sinners need a Savior, and Mary also accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior.
We are all imperfect, fallible sinners:
"This is the message that we have heard from him and announce to you: “God is light and there is no darkness in him at all.” If we claim, “We have fellowship with him,” and live in the darkness, we are lying and do not act truthfully. But if we live in the light in the same way as he is in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin. If we claim, “We don’t have any sin,” we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." -1 John 1:5-8 CEB
The blood of Jesus Christ is what cleanses us from all sins. Jesus came to this earth to die to pay for our sins. You see, Leviticus tells us that 'the life is in the blood,' and that it takes spilt blood to atone for sin.
When we choose to truly believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and to live our lives for Christ, then Christ's spilt blood cleanses us from our sins:
"Come now, and let’s settle this, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow. If they are red as crimson, they will become like wool." -Isaiah 1:18 CEB
Jesus tells us this:
"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son." - Jesus said this, in John 3:16-18 (CEB)
Paul gives us a simple "step by step process" on how to be saved:
"Because if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation. The scripture says, All who have faith in him won’t be put to shame." -Romans 10:9-11 CEB
Jesus is our one and only mediator:
"There is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the human Christ Jesus" -1 Timothy 2:5 CEB
Jesus is our High Priest:
"Also, let’s hold on to the confession since we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, who is Jesus, God’s Son; because we don’t have a high priest who can’t sympathize with our weaknesses but instead one who was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin." -Hebrews 4:14-15 CEB
We are to follow the Lord and the Bible, not traditions of people:
"Jesus replied, “Why do you break the command of God by keeping the rules handed down to you?" -Matthew 15:3 CEB
Jesus is God:
"Without question, the mystery of godliness is great: he was revealed as a human, declared righteous by the Spirit, seen by angels, preached throughout the nations, believed in around the world, and taken up in glory." -1 Timothy 3:16 CEB
If Jesus isn't the Lord of your life, then I hope that you will let Him into your heart and life this very moment.
"But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8 CEB
Have you built your foundation on the Rock of Salvation?
Jesus is the way. If you would like to receive Jesus into your heart and life, then let Him know. Pray to the Lord, telling Him that you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and that you believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the death penalty for your sins. Tell this to God in your own words, from your heart.
"The wages that sin pays are death, but God’s gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 6:23 CEB
Believe, and Receive:
"You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ." -Ephesians 1:13 CEB
When you believe on Jesus Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit. You are sealed as a child of God.
If you have accepted Jesus Christ into your heart and life as your Lord and Savior, and you believe that Jesus died on the cross in your place, to pay the death penalty for your sins, and that Christ rose from the dead three days later, and you are ready to let Him lead your life, and you will live for Him, then you are saved, and born again.
You are now a saved Child of God, with the Holy Spirit living within you. Dedicate your life to the Lord, and live for Him. Please get a Bible (I suggest the Common English Bible - CEB) and turn to the Gospel of John. That is the fourth book in the New Testament. If you don't have a Bible, then you can read it for free, online - here.
After you've read the Gospel of John, go on to read Acts, and then Romans. These three books will bring you through the Gospel, the early church, and basic Christian doctrine. After you've read these three, then turn to the beginning of the New Testament, and read it all the way through. After that, read both the Old and New Testaments.
You should also follow the Lord and get baptized in water. A Believer's Baptism doesn't save you. Only faith in Christ saves you. A Believer's Baptism is an outward showing of your salvation. It symbolizes you being born again. When you are lowered under the water, it shows you dying to your old self, and when you are raised up out of the water, it symbolizes you being born again, as a new creature in Christ. This is called a Believer's Baptism, because, according to the Bible, a person is supposed to get baptized after they have believed on Christ. Anyone who was "baptized" before having faith in Christ just got wet - nothing more. You don't need to find a church to get baptized in. Any born again Christian can baptize you in any acceptable body of water - even a public swimming pool.
Find a good, local church congregation to attend. Search in your area for a Nazarene church, Foursquare church, or non-denominational Full-Gospel church.
Immerse yourself in the Bible. The Bible is God's love letter to you. It is also your Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.
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